My roommates cat has fleas He stays upstairs and Cooper stays downstairs. She found a bunch in her room and we did see a few downstairs over the last couple of days. I have been checking Cooper religiously and haven't found any on him yet but I'm sure they've been on there when I'm not looking. He's on Advantix, so they should die if they bite him anyway but we are going to flea bomb the house this week so that it doesn't get out of control. We tried vacuuming really well, but it didn't get rid of them. Does anyone have suggestions for bombing? I read online that you should cover all wood surfaces with newspaper but it doesn't say that on the box. We have hardwood floors in half the house and gumwood trim everywhere, so it would be a HUGE pain to have to cover all of that up. Has anyone heard of that before? Any suggestions would be great, I've never dealt with fleas before.

Honestly I would not flea bomb the house... from people I've known that have used them they didn't work that well.

Put a flea collar in your vacuum bag/chamber and it will kill the fleas you suck up. I would treat the cat with Frontline - it stops the flea life cycle, kills on contact [they don't have to bite your pet to die]. You can use any product but I think Frontline and Comfortis work the best. They don't have comfortis for cats but if you know how to give a cat a pill you can give them a dose. Comfortis is supposed to be one of the best newest flea products on the market.

The flea lifecycle lasts like 3 months so both pets should be treated every month.

Flea bombs don't work well, and you will never get rid of that smell. You will NEVER EVER EVER forget that smell. Not that I've had vast personal experience with them, or anything...

I would say the best thing to do is exactly what Suzanne suggested: vacuum, vacuum, vacuum-- hardwood, too-- and treat the cat. Until the cat is treated, the fleas will have a host.

Also, the worst thing you can do, is remove the animals, so don't be tempted to simply kick the cat outside or implement a pet holiday or anything like that. Without a host, fleas will live off themselves for a surprisingly long time and multiply even faster. Give them a host (cat and dog) that are treated with flea medication, keep up the meds for a few months, and that will kill them. Flea bombs and just getting rid of the animals, ironically, aren't really effective.

Go figure... The little bastards.

And not to freak you out too much, but keep an eye out for tapeworms; they look like little grains of rice on the animals' feces. If you've not had animals with tapeworms, it's not usually that big a deal, a single $5 pill fixes things; but they're very common with a flea infestation. We just had to pill our cats, but the dogs never got the worms.

"In these bodies, we will live; in these bodies we will die.Where you invest your love, you invest your life." --Marcus Mumford

As long as you treat both of the pets for an extended period of time (as someone mentioned, a couple months at least), you should be set.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

AT least three months is recommended to break the cycle. Capstar kills fleas instantly and can be used daily with a monthly treatment like advantage or frontline. I'd recommend Vectra 3D, as my dog reacted to comfortis (one of the side effects is nausea and gastric upset) for three days. But! Can't use it on cats! Not safe for cats so if they love each other I'd stick with safe things like advantage or frontline, three months and an areal spray like knockout. You can spray one room at a time, once dry its safe and you can get under beds and furniture, while the animals are treated the carpets will kill fresh eggs while hatching.

Ryder - Rescue APBT Panser on a Roll - APBT (American Bully?)Gretchen - the red headed cat that thinks shes a dogPrudence - the new cat on the block to put the dogs in their place!Punchlines Better Than Lojac - APBT (RIP)

Our usual protocol is Capstar (kills live fleas in +/- 1 hour, you'll see them fall off the cat), and Revolution for at least 3 months, along with vacuuming touroughly + washing in hot water anything that the animal has been sleeping on. When vacuuming,put emphasis on sides of walls/baseboards as larvae and eggs that are on the floor will tend to stick there.

The cat and Cooper have both been treated- Cooper with Advantage Multi because that's what he was already on, not sure about what my roommate used on the cat. He has enough to last through December. We used Raid flea spray on the carpet last week and this week and vacuumed like OCD good a few times. We're going to treat the carpet again 2 more times. All the blankets and bedding have been washed too. So far so good! No more fleas seen, no more bites on any of us. Thanks for all the advice.